
When parking was made half price in lots, I made an effort to park in the lots. When street parking cost the same, I began to park on the street again. And there it is. Financial incentives can work to improve things when they are planned carefully. Doubling and tripling parking fees will cause many people to run away. The town cannot survive by catering only to those who don’t think twice about what they spend on items large or small. What we are facing is endless disincentives, like the prospect of having to pay 35 cents for the privilege of paying to park. For me this will never happen and if the meters stop accepting coins the CBD will never have my business again. Add to that the horrors of the single-lane underpass and now the blinding and stupid sign telling me to shop and dine in my town, and I basically avoid downtown to the greatest possible extent.